Being on the winning side is a new, unusual feeling

So pleased that Barack Obama won last night (and decisively, across the Interior West, Midwest, and New South, not just the blue Northeast and Pacific). It's strange to have someone I actually wanted to win do just that (even in primaries, I'm accustomed to backing the losing candidate). The only sadness (and it's a sharp one) is the passage of Proposition 8, amending discrimination right into the state constitution. (Adam says: Maybe we can get the state out of marriage entirely?) I just think of all those people who have married in joy and celebration during the past five months, and my heart breaks for them. So tears of sadness, tears of joy, bittersweet victory.

I voted

And I have the sticker to prove it. Adam and I went to our polling place (the garage of a brown-shingle house around the corner) around 8:30 am; when we got there, the line snaked down the driveway and onto the sidewalk. The morning was cold and brilliant, and the waiting voters were, for the most part, quiet in their own thoughts. Not being in a swing state, it's harder to feel like an important part of history. Of course, there were lots of other important things on the ballot. As we walked up to the polling location, we passed a woman holding up a No on Prop. 8 sign at an appropriate distance. We assured her we would, but I worry that it will pass.